Pour la rentrée, nous réalisons un nouveau focus sur les enseignants, au travers de la deuxième vague du Baromètre de la DEPP. Le respect et la confiance sont au centre de notre analyse, et montrent une profession où la solidarité reste forte, mais fragilisée par le sentiment d’être peu soutenue par sa hiérarchie, en particulier ministérielle.
Sur le plan de la veille, l’actualité des publications a été dense cet été. Nous vous proposons donc une newsletter copieuse, avec un sélection à découvrir à votre rythme.
Observatoire
Le Bien-être des Français – Juin 2024
La vague de juin de notre baromètre du bien-être en France est marquée par une amélioration de la satisfaction quant à la vie en général, à la situation matérielle et les perspectives d’avenir individuel. Cette embellie est particulièrement forte chez les hommes, beaucoup plus modérée chez les femmes. En revanche, les dimensions collectives font l’objet d’une dégradation : les relations avec les proches ainsi que le sentiment d’avoir quelqu’un sur qui compter sont en repli, tandis que l’appréciation des perspectives de la prochaine génération en France chute à nouveau.
Perona, Mathieu. 2024. « Le Bien-être des Français – Juin 2024 ». 2024‑10. Notes de l’Observatoire du bien-être. Paris: CEPREMAP. https://www.cepremap.fr/2024/07/note-de-lobservatoire-du-bien-etre-n2024-10-le-bien-etre-des-francais-juin-2024/.
Satisfaction au travail et relations sociales, un cas d’école
Les interactions sociales des enseignants avec les élèves, les parents, les collègues et leur hiérarchie influencent directement leur satisfaction au travail. Nous montrons que plus les professeurs se sentent respectés et soutenus, plus ils sont satisfaits dans leur activité professionnelle. Une solidarité importante et unanime existe entre collègues. En revanche, les professeurs ressentent un plus faible niveau de respect et de soutien de la part de la hiérarchie, surtout dans le secteur public. Ce constat s’accentue une fois les premières années de carrière passées.
Blanc, Corin. « Satisfaction au travail et relations sociales, un cas d’école ». Notes de l’Observatoire du bien-être. Paris: CEPREMAP, 3 septembre 2024. https://www.cepremap.fr/2024/09/note-de-lobservatoire-du-bien-etre-n2024-11-satisfaction-au-travail-et-relations-sociales-un-cas-decole/.
I Can’t Forget about U: Lifetime Unemployment and Retirement Well-Being
Abstract: It is well-known that unemployment leaves scars after re-employment, but does this scarring effect persist even after retirement? We analyse European data on retirees from the SHARE panel, and show that the well-being of the retired continues to reflect the unemployment that they experienced over their working life. These scarring effects are somewhat smaller for older retirees, but larger for those who arguably had higher expectations regarding the labour market when they were active. Despite the substantial variation in culture and labour-market institutions over the 29 countries in our sample, there are no significant country differences. This long-run scarring for those who have left the labour market underlines that contemporaneous correlations significantly under-estimate the well-being cost of unemployment.
Clark, Andrew E. and Lepinteur, Anthony, (2024), I Can’t Forget about U: Lifetime Unemployment and Retirement Well-Being, No 17068, IZA Discussion Papers, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
The McMansion effect: Positional externalities in U.S. suburbs
Abstract: This paper examines how the construction of very large homes — or “McMansions” — in U.S. suburbs affects homeowners’ satisfaction and housing behavior. Combining three decades of survey data with geolocated information on three million suburban houses, I find that homeowners exposed to newly constructed, large houses report lower satisfaction with their own homes, while their neighborhood satisfaction remains unaffected. This effect is contingent on the visual salience of McMansions, as indicated by their proximity to roads. Homeowners exposed to new-built McMansions are more likely to expand their own homes and take on more debt.
Bellet, Clément S. 2024. « The McMansion effect: Positional externalities in U.S. suburbs ». Journal of Public Economics 238 (octobre):105174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105174.
Loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from five European countries
Abstract: We use quarterly panel data from the COME-HERE survey covering five European countries to analyse three facets of the experience of loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, in terms of prevalence, loneliness peaked in April 2020, followed by a U-shape pattern in the rest of 2020, and then remained relatively stable throughout 2021 and 2022. We then establish the individual determinants of loneliness and compare them to those found in the literature predating the COVID-19 pandemic. As in previous work, women are lonelier, and partnership, education, income, and employment protect against loneliness. However, the pandemic substantially shifted the age profile: it is now the youngest who are the loneliest. We last show that pandemic policies affected loneliness, which rose with containment policies but fell with government economic support. Conversely, the intensity of the pandemic itself, via the number of recent COVID-19 deaths, had only a minor impact. The experience of the pandemic has thus shown that public policy can influence societal loneliness trends.
Rebechi, Alessio, Anthony Lepinteur, Andrew E. Clark, Nicholas Rohde, Claus Vögele, et Conchita D’Ambrosio. « Loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from five European countries ». Economics & Human Biology 55 (1 décembre 2024): 101427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101427.
La France du ressenti : enquête sur une notion au cœur de notre époque
La Fondation Jean-Jaurès a lancé début juillet une série de Notes parcourant la manière dont le ressenti vient renouveler notre compréhension des enjeux économiques politiques et sociaux en France.
Clavière, Juliette, et Thierry Germain. « La France du ressenti : enquête sur une notion au cœur de notre époque ». Paris: Fondation Jean-Jaurès, 10 juillet 2024. https://www.jean-jaures.org/publication/la-france-du-ressenti-enquete-sur-une-notion-au-coeur-de-notre-epoque-2/.
Jeux olympiques et paralympiques 2024 Les Français tiraillés entre enthousiasme et inquiétudes
Résumé : Les Jeux olympiques en France suscitent une gamme complexe de réactions parmi les citoyens, oscillant entre enthousiasme et préoccupations. Pour évaluer la part des diverses opinions, cerner les différents profils et les motivations, le CRÉDOC a intégré un ensemble de questions spécifiques dans son enquête barométrique sur les tendances de consommation. Les résultats montrent que beaucoup de Français voient dans cet événement une occasion de renforcer la cohésion sociale, d’améliorer l’image internationale de la France et de stimuler l’économie locale grâce à des opportunités d’emploi et des investissements dans les infrastructures. Il s’agit plus souvent d’hommes ou de personnes ayant une vision positive de la société et de l’avenir. Cependant, l’arrivée imminente des Jeux génère également de nombreuses inquiétudes et préoccupations : risques en termes de sécurité, impact environnemental, coût pour les finances publiques, sans parler des perturbations personnelles dans la vie quotidienne. Parmi les inquiets et les réfractaires à la tenue des Jeux, on compte plus souvent des femmes, des habitants des zones rurales et des personnes de plus de 55 ans. Nous analysons dans ce document le lien entre les perceptions négatives liées aux Jeux olympiques et les sujets de préoccupation, plus sociétaux, qui traversent la population ces dernières années.
Müller, Jörg, Frank Lehuédé, et Jan Meyring. 2024. « Jeux olympiques et paralympiques 2024 Les Français tiraillés entre enthousiasme et inquiétudes ». CMV338. Consommation & Modes de Vie. Paris: Crédoc. https://www.credoc.fr/publications/jeux-olympiques-et-paralympiques-2024-les-francais-tirailles-entre-enthousiasme-et-inquietudes.
Sur le Web
Les Français préfèrent le bien-être à la démocratie
Résumé : S’il est un mot omniprésent du vocabulaire politique en France, c’est bien celui de démocratie. Tout le monde aime la démocratie, chacun est plus démocrate que l’autre, les condamnations pour esprit anti-démocratique sillonnent les discours et les réseaux sociaux. Au lendemain des élections législatives de 2024, la démocratie impose, pour les partisans du Nouveau Front Populaire, de nommer un Premier ministre issu de ses rangs puisque la coalition électorale a obtenu le plus grand nombre de sièges à l’Assemblée nationale. Pour Emmanuel Macron et les partisans de Renaissance, comme leurs soutiens centristes ou de droite, la démocratie impose au contraire d’entendre les autres électeurs car le NFP est loin de la majorité absolue et parce que le pays doit pouvoir disposer d’un gouvernement stable reposant sur des compromis. La lecture démocratique est plurielle, son interprétation toujours susceptible d’une mise en contexte ou d’une exégèse des textes constitutionnels.
La question que l’on a posée dans le cadre de l’enquête Civica, menée conjointement en France, en Allemagne et en Italie, est de savoir jusqu’où va la défense de la démocratie. Si le concept est défendu par une très large majorité d’enquêtés, ces derniers s’avèrent bien moins enthousiastes dès lors qu’on leur propose d’arbitrer entre la démocratie et le bien-être économique. L’analyse montre que c’est en France que le choix prioritaire donné à la démocratie sur le bien-être est le plus rare. Moins d’un enquêté sur deux affirme préférer avant tout un régime démocratique à un régime moins ou peu démocratique qui augmente ses possibilités d’enrichissement ou de bien-être. C’est ce que l’on a appelé le « module chinois » : préférez-vous la démocratie au risque de la pauvreté ou bien un régime moins démocratique mais améliorant votre condition économique ?
L’enquête révèle que la mobilité sociale ou l’amélioration de la condition économique viennent davantage en soutien de la recherche du bien-être que de celle de la démocratie, ce qui contredit les théories du développement politique qui ont fait les belles heures de la science politique des années 1960. Les enquêtés préférant le bien-être se révèlent être plus libéraux sur le plan économique et sont plus confiants envers les institutions de l’Union européenne que ceux qui privilégient la démocratie.
Rouban, Luc. « Les Français préfèrent le bien-être à la démocratie ». Policy Brief. Paris: SciencesPo CEVIPOF, août 2024. https://www.sciencespo.fr/cevipof/sites/sciencespo.fr.cevipof/files/LR_bienetredemocratie_aou%cc%82t2024_VF%20(1).pdf.
Delving into the eye of the cyclone to quantify the cascading impacts of natural disasters on life satisfaction
Abstract: The catastrophic effects of natural disasters on social and economic systems are well-documented; however, their impacts on individual life satisfaction remain insufficiently understood. This study pioneers a causal analysis of cyclones’ impacts on Australians’ life satisfaction, using local cyclones as natural experiments. Analysing over two decades of data, individual fixed-effects models reveal that cyclones, particularly category 5 (highest severity) cyclones in close proximity to residences, significantly reduce overall life satisfaction and specific domains like community, personal safety, and health satisfaction. Notably, these cyclones have a lasting impact on community and personal safety satisfaction. Our findings withstand rigorous sensitivity assessments, including a falsification test demonstrating no impact of future cyclones on current life satisfaction. Moreover, extensive heterogeneous analysis uncovers significant variations in cyclone impact based on life satisfaction domains and individual, household, and regional characteristics. Additionally, this study shows that cyclone-induced home damage, especially from the most severe cyclones, significantly diminishes the aforementioned life satisfaction outcomes, but to a much greater magnitude.
Nguyen, Ha Trong, et Francis Mitrou. « Delving into the Eye of the Cyclone to Quantify the Cascading Impacts of Natural Disasters on Life Satisfaction ». Working Paper. GLO Discussion Paper, 2024. https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/298790.
Retirement and Well-Being
Abstract: This chapter reviews the literature about the effect of retirement on well-being. It distinguishes studies that investigate the consequences of retirement on measures of well-being such as happiness and life satisfaction from those focusing on mental health. Special attention is also paid to the estimation method and the identification strategy. While results based on mental health or measures of well-being are remarkably consistent, they are sensitive to the estimation methods. While, on average, retired individuals report a lower level of well-being than workers, results based on causal methods tend to indicate that the effect of retirement on well-being is nonnegative.
Bonsang, Eric, Clémentine Garrouste, et Elsa Perdrix. « Retirement and Well-Being ». In Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics, édité par Klaus F. Zimmermann, 1‑14. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_391-1.
Socio-Cultural Influences on Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Syrian Migrants in Turkey
Abstract: Political tensions linked with immigration flows have sparked and stimulated the debate about migration and the integration of migrants to host societies. We aim to examine the participation of Syrian forced migrants in socio-cultural activities in Turkey and compare the frequency of participation with Turkish respondents. The second aim is to study the influence of participation in socio-cultural activities on subjective well-being (SWB). An interesting finding is that Syrians report higher SWB levels than Turkish respondents. Moreover, the study shows that integration and social inclusion should not be attributed solely to immigrants but should also rely on the efforts of the recipient societies since financial constraints and income disparities may potentially make it more difficult for migrants’ socio-cultural participation. It is critical to explore the role of socio-cultural participation in SWB because of the belief that this facility promotes social inclusion, building more cohesive communities, which in turn improves well-being.
Giovanis, Eleftherios, Akdede, Sacit Hadi and Ozdamar, Oznur, (2024), Socio-Cultural Influences on Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Syrian Migrants in Turkey, MPRA Paper, University Library of Munich, Germany.
Life Satisfaction and Inequality in Slovakia: The Role of Income, Consumption and Wealth
Abstract: In recent years, a small number of studies have emphasized that subjective well-being of individuals depends not only on income but also consumption and wealth. However, only a few have examined the influence of all three variables simultaneously. Empirical studies have also analyzed the role of self-centered and community-centered inequalities but the inclusion of both measures in the same specification is scarce. In a departure from much of the existing literature, this paper analyzes concurrently the influence of all three economic well-being indicators and both types of inequalities on subjective well-being. We find that absolute levels of income, consumption and wealth all have a significant positive effect that remains robust even after the inclusion of self-centered and community-centered inequalities in the regression equations. The evidence indicates that both types of inequalities are important considerations for subjective well-being, but with different influences. Self-centered inequality measured using reference group average has a positive signalling effect, while inequality defined by the position of an individual within the distribution of the relevant economic well-being indicator has a negative comparison effect. Whereas community-centered inequality in income has a positive signalling effect, consumption and wealth inequalities have a negative comparison effect.
Banerjee, Biswajit and Toth, Peter, (2023), Life Satisfaction and Inequality in Slovakia: The Role of Income, Consumption and Wealth, No 106, Working Papers, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
Gender inequality and subjective well-being amongst professional women in East and Southeast Asia: a study of eight societies
Abstract: The dynamic combination of an increasingly progressive gender revolution in modern Asia and cultural characteristics that include the hierarchisation of gender, especially in East Asia, has the potential to shed valuable light on women’s search for gender equality and their well-being. This study of three East Asian (South Korea, Taiwan, Japan) and five Southeast Asian societies (Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, total n = 8,022) examined the desire for more gender egalitarianism amongst professional women in Asia, set against the reality of persisting gendered practices at the intersection of work and family. Findings show that a mismatch between egalitarian gender ideology and traditional practice around household labour has deleterious effects on the subjective well-being (happiness and life satisfaction), especially of professional women in South Korea. That the mismatch is most clearly seen in South Korea (and, to a lesser but still apparent degree, in Japan, Taiwan or any of the Southeast Asian societies), suggests a complex picture of unequal and situationally unique gender relations within East Asia as well as across East and Southeast Asia.
Jiang, L., Chua, V., Wong, D. X. W., & Im, D. K. (2024). Gender inequality and subjective well-being amongst professional women in East and Southeast Asia: a study of eight societies. Asian Population Studies, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441730.2024.2348929
Measurement Invariance of the Fear of Happiness Scale in Adults Samples From Six Countries
Abstract: Previous cross-cultural research on the measurement invariance of the fear of happiness scale has largely been limited to small student samples, making it difficult to generalize findings to more diverse populations. This study examined the measurement invariance of the fear of happiness scale in adult samples from South Korea, Canada, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, and the United States. Sample sizes ranged from 256 to 1,177 participants per country (total N = 3,930). The single-factor model of fear of happiness fitted the data well, and the reliabilities were acceptable in all countries. After adjustment for age, partial scalar invariance was supported, with Items 3 and 5 being non-invariant. Latent mean analysis revealed significant country differences, with Turkey having the highest fear of happiness score and Portugal having the lowest. These findings suggest that the scale can be used to measure fear of happiness in diverse adult samples. However, Items 3 and 5 may not be interpreted consistently across cultures. Therefore, caution should be used when comparing observed means across countries. For meaningful cross-cultural comparisons, researchers should compare latent means after considering and addressing any potential non-invariance issues.
Joshanloo, Mohsen, Murat Yıldırım, Edyta Janus, Cynthia A. Frosch, Isabel Silva, et Gloria Jólluskin. 2024. « Measurement Invariance of the Fear of Happiness Scale in Adults Samples From Six Countries ». European Journal of Psychological Assessment, mai. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000834.
The Determinants of Countercyclical Job Satisfaction in the Public Sector
Abstract: Job satisfaction is sensitive to economic fluctuations; it rises during economic growth and falls in recessions. Job satisfaction also depends on relative comparisons. For workers less affected by business cycles-as is typical in the public sector-job satisfaction may thus be countercyclical due to comparisons with other sectors. Previous laboratory results confirm this countercyclical trend. This study reports new results from the German Socio-Economic Panel confirming the overall countercyclical job satisfaction trend but also revealing this trend is present only among men, not women. We consider three possible drivers of this gender gap. Competitiveness and pro-sociality differ between men and women both in the laboratory and in the field and plausibly interact with job satisfaction countercyclicality. Another potential explanation of countercyclicality is that men are more commonly the primary household providers. We conducted an experiment to explore these three channels. The experiment replicated the countercyclical job satisfaction trend. While identifying a significant gender gap in competitiveness, pro-sociality, and job satisfaction, we found no difference in job satisfaction cyclicality between men and women, nor a correlation with these traits. Our findings suggest that the fundamental gender differences we identified in the laboratory do not drive the gender differences observed in the survey data.
Ravid, O. The Determinants of Countercyclical Job Satisfaction in the Public Sector. J Happiness Stud 25, 70 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00786-z
Effects of Teaching Practices on Life Satisfaction and Test Scores: Evidence from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Abstract: Schools are ripe for policy intervention. We demonstrate that a greater prevalence of group discussion used in schools positively affects students’ life satisfaction and noncognitive skills but has no impact on test scores, based on a sample from the 2015 PISA which includes more than 35 thousand students from approximately 1500 schools in 14 countries. We perform regressions of student life satisfaction on school-level group discussion and lecturing, including a battery of controls and random intercepts by school. For robustness we use instrumental variables and methods to account for school-selection. The impact of group discussion is meaningful a one-standard-deviation increase leads to an increase in life satisfaction that is about one-half of the negative-association with grade repetition. In contrast, lecturing does not have any effects. We are the first to show group discussion improves student life satisfaction and noncognitive skills, and thereby likely positively affects later-life outcomes.
O’Connor, Kelsey and Bartolini, Stefano, Effects of Teaching Practices on Life Satisfaction and Test Scores: Evidence from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). IZA Discussion Paper No. 17145, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4898325 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4898325
Is immigration good for Europe? Long-run evidence using comprehensive well-being
Abstract: The immigrant (foreign-born) population increased by 32 million in total across 37 European countries from 1990 to 2019. Much of this movement was from east to west. Indeed, both the total and foreign-born populations declined in the former Eastern Bloc over this period. Such demographic shifts could be expected to affect both the immigrant destination and origin countries in diverse ways. However, we find no evidence of positive or negative impacts on aggregate subjective well-being, among both the destination and origin countries. Immigrants, in contrast, experienced increased well-being, converted to monetary terms, in excess of £25,000 per person. Previous research had reduced scopes, e.g., covering destination countries or impacts on income only. We offer more comprehensive evidence, in terms of country and period, and by assessing impacts on subjective well-being, which implicitly includes all of the factors perceived to be important to people, both economic and non-economic.
Kelsey J. O’Connor, 2024. « Is immigration good for Europe? Long-run evidence using comprehensive well-being, » GLO Discussion Paper Series 1461, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
Should bads be inflicted all at once, like Machiavelli said? Evidence from life-satisfaction data
Abstract: Is wellbeing, measured by life satisfaction, higher if the same number of negative events is spread out rather than bunched in time? Is it better if positive events are spread out or bunched? We answer these questions empirically, exploiting biannual data on six positive and twelve negative life events in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia panel. Accounting for selection, anticipation, and adaptation, we find a tipping point when it comes to negative events: once people experience about two negative events, their wellbeing depreciates disproportionally as more and more events occur in a given period of time. For positive events, effects are weakly decreasing in size. So for a person’s wellbeing it is better if both the good and the bad is spread out rather than bunched in time. This corresponds better with the classic economic presumption of diminishing marginal effects rather than Machiavelli’s prescript of inflicting all injuries at once, further motivating the use of life satisfaction as a suitable proxy for utility. Yet, differences are small, with complete smoothing of all negative events over all people and periods calculated to yield no more than a 12% reduction in the total negative wellbeing impact of negative events.
Frijters, Paul, Krekel, Christian and Ulker, Aydogan, (2023), Should bads be inflicted all at once, like Machiavelli said? Evidence from life-satisfaction data, LSE Research Online Documents on Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
Further Evidence on the Global Decline in the Mental Health of the Young
Abstract: Prior to around 2011, there was a pronounced curvilinear relationship between age and wellbeing: poor mental health was hump-shaped with respect to age, whilst subjective well-being was U-shaped. We examine data from a European panel for France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden called, Come-Here, for 2020-2023, plus data from International Social Survey Program (ISSP) surveys for 2011 and 2021 and some country-specific data. Mental ill-health now declines in a roughly monotonic fashion with age, whilst subjective well-being rises with age. We also show that young people with poorer mental health spend more time daily in front of a screen on the internet or their smartphone, and that within-person increases in poor mental health are correlated with spending more time in front of a screen. This evidence appears important because it is among the first pieces of research to use panel data on individuals to track the relationship between screen time and changes in mental health, and because the results caution against simply using the presence of the internet in the household, or low usage indicators (such as having used the internet in the last week) to capture the role played by screen time in the growth of mental ill-health.
Blanchflower, David, Bryson, Alex, Lepinteur, Anthony and Piper, Alan, (2024), Further Evidence on the Global Decline in the Mental Health of the Young, No 32500, NBER Working Papers, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Nowcasting subjective well-being with Google Trends: A meta-learning approach
Abstract: This paper applies Machine learning techniques to Google Trends data to provide real-time estimates of national average subjective well-being among 38 OECD countries since 2010. We make extensive usage of large custom micro databases to enhance the training of models on carefully pre-processed Google Trends data. We find that the best one-year-ahead prediction is obtained from a meta-learner that combines the predictions drawn from an Elastic Net with and without interactions, from a Gradient-Boosted Tree and from a Multi-layer Perceptron. As a result, across 38 countries over the 2010-2020 period, the out-of-sample prediction of average subjective well-being reaches an R2 of 0.830.
Murtin, Fabrice and Salomon-Ermel, Max, (2024), Nowcasting subjective well-being with Google Trends: A meta-learning approach, No 27, OECD Papers on Well-being and Inequalities, OECD Publishing.
The importance of sampling frequency for estimates of well-being dynamics
Abstract: Using a high-frequency panel survey, we examine the sensitivity of estimated self-reported well-being (SWB) dynamics to using monthly, quarterly, and yearly data. This is an important issue if SWB is to be used to evaluate policy. Results from autoregressive models that account for individual-level het- erogeneity indicate that the estimated persistence using yearly data is near zero. However, estimated persistence from monthly and quarterly data is substantial. We estimate that persistence to shocks typically lasts around six months and has a net present value of 75–80 per cent of the contemporaneous effect. Estimates are similar for different domains of SWB.
Hoskins, Stephen, Johnston, David, Kunz, Johannes S., Shields, Michael and Staub, Kevin E., (2024), The importance of sampling frequency for estimates of well-being dynamics, No 2024-05, Working Papers, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
The Role of Negative Affect in Shaping Populist Support: Converging Field Evidence From Across the Globe
Abstract: Support for populism has grown substantially during the past 2 decades, a development that has coincided with a marked increase in the experience of negative affect around the world. We use a multimodal, multimethod empirical approach, with data from a diverse set of geographical and political contexts, to investigate the extent to which the rising electoral demand for populism can be explained by negative affect. We demonstrate that negative affect—measured via (a) self-reported emotions in surveys as well as (b) automated text analyses of Twitter data—predicts individual-level populist attitudes in two global surveys (Studies 1a and 1b), longitudinal changes in populist party vote shares at general elections in Europe (Study 2), district-level Brexit voting in the 2016 U.K. referendum (Study 3), and county-level vote shares for Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections (Studies 4a and 4b). We find that negative emotions—such as fear and anger as well as more often overlooked low-arousal negative emotions like depression and sadness—are predictive of populist beliefs as well as voting and election results at scale.
Ward, George, H. Andrew Schwartz, Salvatore Giorgi, Jochen I. Menges, et Sandra C. Matz. « The Role of Negative Affect in Shaping Populist Support: Converging Field Evidence from across the Globe ». The American Psychologist, 25 juillet 2024. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001326.
The Division of Labour Within the Household and Life Satisfaction
Abstract: Historically, the division of labour within the household has been characterized by women allocating more time to domestic labour and men allocating more time to market labour. Although pressure for gender equality in both domestic and market labour is rising, it is unclear how the division of labour within the household relates to life satisfaction. Using panel data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (2002–2021) and couple-fixed effects models we estimate, by gender, the relationship between own and partner’s time spent on various household responsibilities and life satisfaction using three different measures of time use for four household responsibilities. Household responsibilities are divided into routine chores, taking care of own children, outdoor tasks, and paid work. Our main findings include that household responsibilities that significantly relate to life satisfaction differ by gender. However, outdoor tasks (maintenance and gardening) positively relate to the life satisfaction of both men and women. We further find that women’s life satisfaction is more sensitive to comparisons to others, both within and outside the home, than men’s life satisfaction. The results also suggest that men experience increased life satisfaction if they spend more time on household responsibilities traditionally performed by women and less time on paid work. Conversely, women’s life satisfaction does not increase with greater spousal contribution to these tasks but does increase when they themselves spend less time on paid work.
Ragnarsdottir, A.G., McNamee, P., Norton, E.C. et al. The Division of Labour Within the Household and Life Satisfaction. J Happiness Stud 25, 75 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00796-x
Childhood and demographic predictors of life evaluation, life satisfaction, and happiness: A cross-national analysis of the Global Flourishing Study
Abstract: Subjective wellbeing has increasingly attracted attention across academia and beyond (e.g., policy making). However, the research literature has various shortcomings, including (1) conceptual confusion around key constructs, (2) limited and fragmented understanding of contextual dynamics, and (3) a lack of cross-cultural consideration. This paper reports on data from an ambitious research endeavour capable of redressing these three issues: the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), an intended five-year (minimum) panel study investigating the predictors of human flourishing. In addressing the aforementioned issues, first, the GFS has separate items for three constructs at the heart of subjective wellbeing that are often used interchangeably but are actually distinct: life evaluation; life satisfaction, and happiness. Second, the GFS enables an analysis of the association with these constructs of 15 contextual factors (eight relating to childhood, four demographic, and three pertaining to both). Third, the GFS includes (in this first year) 202,898 participants from 22 geographically and culturally diverse countries. Regarding contextual factors, all 15 had a significant association with all three outcome variables, with the largest variation observed being for self-reported health among the childhood predictors and employment status among the demographic factors. Significantly though, the overall patterns were not uniform across countries, suggesting the trends observed are not inevitable or universal, but are contingent on socio-cultural factors. The findings provide a better understanding of, and the foundation for future work on, the conceptual, contextual, and cross-cultural dynamics of this important topic.
Lomas, Tim, Hayami Koga, R. Padgett, James Pawelski, Eric Kim, Christos Makridis, Craig Gundersen, et al. « Childhood and demographic predictors of life evaluation, life satisfaction, and happiness: A cross-national analysis of the Global Flourishing Study », 30 juillet 2024. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4783710/v1.
The Impact of Answer Scale Orientation on the Measurement of Life Satisfaction
Abstract: In national and international surveys, life satisfaction is often measured by a single item. However, there is a lot of debate in survey research about whether rating scales should be ordered in an ascending order (from negative to positive) or a descending order (from positive to negative). We investigate the effect of scale orientation by randomly assigning both versions in an online survey (N = 3,138). The average reported life satisfaction is 0.7 points lower when the descending version of an 11-point scale is used, as compared to the ascending scale (p < 0.001). We further test the construct validity by correlating each version of the response scales with other measures related to life satisfaction (e.g. happiness, depressive mood, and physical health). Generally speaking, the correlations of the ascending scale are significantly stronger as compared to the descending scale, indicating higher validity. Moreover, we investigate the impact of horizontal versus vertical presentations of the 11-point life satisfaction answer scale. Our results indicate that there are no statistically significant differences between horizontally and vertically presented response scales. We conclude that the order of response scales should be chosen carefully, as it affects the measurement of life satisfaction. Overall, our results suggest using an ascending life satisfaction scale.
Wöhner, F., Franzen, A. The Impact of Answer Scale Orientation on the Measurement of Life Satisfaction. J Happiness Stud 25, 78 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00798-9